Last year, Sadhguru faced two life-threatening medical emergencies that required brain surgeries, bringing him within millimeters of death.
In this excerpt from his candid conversation with podcast host and author Lewis Howes, he opens up about the harrowing circumstances leading up to the surgeries and reveals what happened when doctors feared they had lost him.
Lewis Howes: You went through two brain surgeries last year?
Sadhguru: Yes. I banged up my head a bit.
I started having excruciating pain in my head at the end of January 2024. But I had full engagements, so I went on. I don’t take painkillers because I want to know what’s happening. If I take painkillers, then I don’t know what’s happening – I may be causing damage and I will not know.
It became excruciating where one side was almost paralyzed with pain. But I kept on with all the activity, lots of travel within the country. Even on March 8th – Mahashivratri, a full night celebration – I was in lots of pain. You look at the videos – I’m the whole night dancing, meditating, talking, everything. No one realized anything was wrong, except one or two people around me who knew I was in pain. So I was just putting some cold patches to calm the eyes a little bit because it was like electric.
I had some travel to Chennai and Mumbai, and then I came to Delhi for an event on March 14th. The doctor looked at me and said, “Sadhguru, you can’t do this event. You must immediately come to the hospital.”
I said, “It’s a private event; I’ve accepted. I’ll handle it.”
Next day I had a media event with India Today television – a 45-minute conversation. The doctor said, “You cannot do it; I’m putting my foot down.” So I tried to tell the India Today people that I have a family emergency.
They said, “Sadhguru, tickets are sold; everybody’s come only for you. How can you do this?” Till now I have not cancelled a single event in my life. No matter what’s happening with me, I do it. So I told the doctor, "See, they are saying this."
Lewis Howes: They’re counting on you.
Sadhguru: Yes, I can’t back out. So I’m talking, and 45 minutes are over, but the journalist wants to ask more questions. By then, my left leg is oscillating by itself. The previous day, they did an MRI scan and found my brain median had moved 8.4 millimeters. The doctor said, “Sadhguru, twelve is fatal.”
I said, “I won’t go there. I’ll just finish this and come.”
Once the leg started shaking, I knew I had crossed lines. I could be paralyzed anytime – a stroke could happen – anything. Then I stepped off the stage. I said, “I have crossed all lines; do what you want.”
He took me straight to the surgery table. When they did the scan, I was 11.5 millimeters off the median – 0.5 millimeters off fatality. They immediately took me to a surgeon, cut a big window open, and put me under anesthesia.
All these young nurses in Delhi – they all know me; they follow me, but they never got to see me. Here they got me down on the table, and eight of them are looking at me with big grins on their faces. Probably only one or two were needed, but they all wanted to be there.
I said, “When I come out of anesthesia, don’t smile like this. I may think I’m on the other side.” They all burst out laughing, and then I just conked out.
The surgery went well. I recovered, but very unstable – couldn’t walk straight; my balance was gone. But I kept everyone’s spirits up. Even the prime minister called to check how I was. All over the country, it was big news. The doctor said, “Six months no driving, and two years no motorcycle.”
Three weeks later, I landed in Coimbatore and I drove to the Center.
Lewis Howes: You drove a car?
Sadhguru: Yeah. Their thing was that if you drive and there’s a jerk, something could happen. I said, “If I’m driving, at least I know when it’ll jerk. If someone else is driving, I don’t know when they’ll jerk the car.”
They said, “No jerks, no shakes, no fall.” I said, “I’ll take care of that.” The wound was still open, but I went back. People were very happy and emotional, because they all got terrified that I had come to an end.
Twenty-one days after that, we had fixed a program in Bali and Cambodia. It was a niche group of people registered from all over, particularly Chinese and Russians who can’t come to India right now for geopolitical reasons. The doctor said, “No way you’re traveling.”
I said, “I’ll take care of that.” My daughter said she’ll travel with me, and there was a whole team taking care of me. So I went to Bali to do the program; there was a lot of physical activity. Teaching alone, I’d handle; other things, other people would handle. It went very well. After four days, we were supposed to go to Cambodia.
I was putting a plastic wrap on my wound and swimming a little bit because I needed exercise. Me and my daughter were swimming in the pool. After that, I came up and sat on a chair; she was sitting on the floor.
A big monkey came into the sitting room, which was open. There were heaps of fruits, so the monkey went in. My daughter instinctively screamed at the monkey. The monkey turned around and came at her with his mouth open. I have seen monkey bite injuries where half of the person’s face was gone.
It was coming towards her. So I got up and ran to get my stick. Someone had closed the door. I went and banged full speed into the glass. The glass made such a big bang that the monkey ran away. The purpose was served, but my head was cracked.
First I thought, immediately I’ll fly to Delhi for another emergency surgery because they had said if you hit your head, this is it. Then I thought I’d wait till that night and see if there were any symptoms, like imbalance or pain. Nothing happened.
Next morning, I woke up fine. I said, “I’ll fly to Cambodia. Just three more days; I’ll finish this. If there are any signs, I’ll go back.” I went through the next three days of the program. Then I flew into Coimbatore. From the airport, I went straight to the scan. Once again, internal bleeding.
I went for another surgery. That surgery also went okay. But on the third day after the surgery, there was a cytokine storm; every cell in the body went through a storm. This happens only if you have sepsis or some other kind of serious infection. I had no infection of any kind. The doctors could not make out what happened. I knew I was kind of seeping away within myself.
I opened my eyes and saw 14 doctors standing there, including the chairperson of the hospital, all with tears in their eyes. They thought they had lost me because organ failure started happening.
Looking at their faces, I knew they were sort of giving up on me. When I closed my eyes, I could see that in every cell in the body, I was seeping away. It was a beautiful feeling, like every cell in the body letting something go.
So I closed my eyes, and I became a lot more conscious. I kept myself like that. And in about an hour and a half, I turned around. When I came out of that, six hours had passed. About an hour and a half, they thought they had lost me completely.
It took some time to recover. But within two months, I was on the motorcycle. I was riding because I wanted to see if I was really there or not. I was fine. I kept joking, “They removed half my brain, and I’m doing great now.”
Lewis Howes: Did you have any fear during that time?
Sadhguru: No, I’m always living like this – if it comes now, I’m ready. I won’t turn back and look.
Lewis Howes: But a lot of people would be afraid to die right now because maybe they haven’t fulfilled what they want in life.
Lewis Howes: Did you have any fear during that time?
Sadhguru: No, I’m always living like this – if it comes now, I’m ready. I won’t turn back and look.
Lewis Howes: But a lot of people would be afraid to die right now because maybe they haven’t fulfilled what they want in life.
Sadhguru: They’d be afraid even if they reach a hundred. They’ll still be in the same condition.
Lewis Howes: But more like, sad that they didn’t live the purposeful life they wanted to live, right?
Sadhguru: Purposeful doesn’t happen because of time. Purposeful happens because of intent and awareness. Over 80 percent of the people, if you observe them during their last moments of death, they’re not in pain, they’re not in fear – they’re just bewildered because they misunderstood their psychological drama as life process.
What’s happening in your mind is your psychological drama – your thought and emotion. But you think that is life. It’s made up by you. It’s not really life. Life is not made up by you. It’s happening. You did not create this life. You’re only creating situations. You’re misunderstanding the arrangements and accessories of life as life. Is this clothing me?
Lewis Howes: No.
Sadhguru: Is this body you?
Lewis Howes: A part of me.
Sadhguru: You accumulated it over a period of time. It’s the food that you’ve eaten – it’s just soil. Will you get it now, or will you only get it from the maggots one day? They will clearly tell you you’re topsoil. But if you know that right now, you live differently.
